Sandy-damaged businesses complain about grant program

By HUGH R. MORLEY

Staff Writer |

The Record

HIGHLANDS — A dozen owners of businesses damaged by Superstorm Sandy, including several from North Jersey, provided a state legislator Monday with a litany of complaints about a state program created to help storm-damaged businesses.

In an emotionally charged meeting in Monmouth County, owners of businesses that included a spa, restaurants, a beach club, trucking companies and a bakery of told of months of delays, excessive requests for documents, constant changes in the case managers they were dealing with and an incomprehensible application process that had yet to yield financial help for any of the business owners present.

"It makes no sense, my application has been complete for months," said Eddie Catalano, owner of Eddie Confetti ice cream parlor on the Asbury Park boardwalk, adding that he first applied for a $50,000 grant in May and was recently told for the third time that his application is in final review. "It's a review of the review of the review," he said.

The meeting, which was organized by New Jersey Main Street Alliance and the office of Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Camden, provided fresh criticism of the Stronger New Jersey Business Grant Program, which has recently come under fire for the paucity of grants awarded since it was launched in May.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), which administers the program, said Monday that 345 of the 1,549 completed applications submitted have been approved for funding, for a total approved of $16.9 million. The agency rebuffed the criticism by saying the program is necessarily complicated to comply with federal rules and to ensure taxpayer money goes only to storm-damaged businesses.

About $83 million remains to be awarded from the original pool of about $100 million in federal funds allocated to the program. Applicants that have suffered at least $5,000 of damage in the storm are eligible for grants of up to $50,000.

David Ambartsumyan of Englewood Cliffs, who owns a Newark-based trucking company, Affirmative Transportation, LLC, said that nine months after applying he is still answering questions from staffers at the EDA. He said the storm destroyed one of his two trucks, effectively putting him out of businesses for nine months.

Last week, he said, the EDA told him he still owed sales tax from 2009 and 2011, which he believed was wrong. When he provided documentation showing that he had fully paid his taxes, the agency dropped the issue, he said.

"It's a shame," said Ambartsumyan, who said it felt like the EDA was seeking any excuse to delay applications.

"Every time I spoke to them it was always, 'Now it's under review. It's in the process," he said. "Now, I am wondering what is going to be the next paper, the next document they are going to ask me [for]?"

Other businesses complained of dealing with as many as five successive case managers, some of whom seemed ill-trained, and not-well versed in their case or how the program works.

One businesswoman, Ravinder Valia, owner of Ravinder's Day Spa in Hoboken, said the response to her grant applications took so long that she borrowed money to prevent her from going into foreclosure, and was then told that maybe she didn't need a grant because she had resolved the problem.

Greenwald said he understood that the EDA needs to follow federal regulations to prevent fraud, but by now the agency should have resolved the problems. He said the best way to do so would be to open local offices where EDA staffers could guide business owners through the application process.

"This grant program was designed to provide small businesses damaged by Superstorm Sandy a helping hand to help businesses get back on their feet," said Greenwald in a press statement released after the event. "What they got instead was a horror story: endless delays, unanswered questions, bureaucratic foot-dragging, finger-pointing, and mismanagement."

Asked about the criticisms, the EDA released a statement saying the agency has to make sure an applicant is not getting funds from other programs or insurance, and "much back and forth between applicants and our business advisors" is often needed because many applicants are mom and pop businesses that provide weak documentation.

In February, the agency said, it boosted the number of business advisors on each case from one to two.

"We've also reduced the amount of documentation required to begin the review process," the statement said, adding that the agency had begun cases that could be processed more rapidly and "further reduced the burden on our applicants by leveraging federal partnerships to verify funding information."

Sandy-damaged businesses complain about grant program

By HUGH R. MORLEY

Staff Writer |

The Record

HIGHLANDS — A dozen owners of businesses damaged by Superstorm Sandy, including several from North Jersey, provided a state legislator Monday with a litany of complaints about a state program created to help storm-damaged businesses.

In an emotionally charged meeting in Monmouth County, owners of businesses that included a spa, restaurants, a beach club, trucking companies and a bakery of told of months of delays, excessive requests for documents, constant changes in the case managers they were dealing with and an incomprehensible application process that had yet to yield financial help for any of the business owners present.

"It makes no sense, my application has been complete for months," said Eddie Catalano, owner of Eddie Confetti ice cream parlor on the Asbury Park boardwalk, adding that he first applied for a $50,000 grant in May and was recently told for the third time that his application is in final review. "It's a review of the review of the review," he said.

The meeting, which was organized by New Jersey Main Street Alliance and the office of Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Camden, provided fresh criticism of the Stronger New Jersey Business Grant Program, which has recently come under fire for the paucity of grants awarded since it was launched in May.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), which administers the program, said Monday that 345 of the 1,549 completed applications submitted have been approved for funding, for a total approved of $16.9 million. The agency rebuffed the criticism by saying the program is necessarily complicated to comply with federal rules and to ensure taxpayer money goes only to storm-damaged businesses.

About $83 million remains to be awarded from the original pool of about $100 million in federal funds allocated to the program. Applicants that have suffered at least $5,000 of damage in the storm are eligible for grants of up to $50,000.

David Ambartsumyan of Englewood Cliffs, who owns a Newark-based trucking company, Affirmative Transportation, LLC, said that nine months after applying he is still answering questions from staffers at the EDA. He said the storm destroyed one of his two trucks, effectively putting him out of businesses for nine months.

Last week, he said, the EDA told him he still owed sales tax from 2009 and 2011, which he believed was wrong. When he provided documentation showing that he had fully paid his taxes, the agency dropped the issue, he said.

"It's a shame," said Ambartsumyan, who said it felt like the EDA was seeking any excuse to delay applications.

"Every time I spoke to them it was always, 'Now it's under review. It's in the process," he said. "Now, I am wondering what is going to be the next paper, the next document they are going to ask me [for]?"

Other businesses complained of dealing with as many as five successive case managers, some of whom seemed ill-trained, and not-well versed in their case or how the program works.

One businesswoman, Ravinder Valia, owner of Ravinder's Day Spa in Hoboken, said the response to her grant applications took so long that she borrowed money to prevent her from going into foreclosure, and was then told that maybe she didn't need a grant because she had resolved the problem.

Greenwald said he understood that the EDA needs to follow federal regulations to prevent fraud, but by now the agency should have resolved the problems. He said the best way to do so would be to open local offices where EDA staffers could guide business owners through the application process.

"This grant program was designed to provide small businesses damaged by Superstorm Sandy a helping hand to help businesses get back on their feet," said Greenwald in a press statement released after the event. "What they got instead was a horror story: endless delays, unanswered questions, bureaucratic foot-dragging, finger-pointing, and mismanagement."

Asked about the criticisms, the EDA released a statement saying the agency has to make sure an applicant is not getting funds from other programs or insurance, and "much back and forth between applicants and our business advisors" is often needed because many applicants are mom and pop businesses that provide weak documentation.

In February, the agency said, it boosted the number of business advisors on each case from one to two.

"We've also reduced the amount of documentation required to begin the review process," the statement said, adding that the agency had begun cases that could be processed more rapidly and "further reduced the burden on our applicants by leveraging federal partnerships to verify funding information."